A personal triumph for Sajeevan

The success of the Indian junior (under-18) football team in the recent Ian Rush international youth football tournament for the M.M. Ford Trophy was a personal triumph for the soft-spoken assistant coach Sajeevan Balan from Kerala.
Sajeevan, who was handpicked by chief coach Stephen Constantine for the trip, was given full charge of the team for the Wales tournament as Constantine had to leave for Bhutan to attend a FIFA programme.
Sajeevan handled the team well in the absence of the chief coach and motivated the boys to come up with their best against superior opponents. "I did not deviate much from our set plan but made subtle variations according to the situation," he said.
"The fact that most of the players were from the Tata Football Academy also helped. The month-long camp and practice matches against the Goan clubs put us in good stead in the twin tournaments," Sajeevan added.
The Indians first gave notice of their talent by finishing a creditable ninth in the Milk Cup in Ireland. The win against Dynamov, Kiev was one of the finest achieved by an Indian team in recent years. "Honestly I feel we were let down by some bad refereeing in Ireland. We lost two matches due to that and I really felt we should have finished higher than the eventual ninth place," he said.
The Indians made a slow start in the Ian Rush tournament as they were held to a goalless draw by Transmere Rovers. The result put them in a spot of bother as they needed a big win against Foothills Football Club, Canada to qualify.
Sajeevan changed the strategy after this and urged the boys to go all-out against the Canadians and the result was a 6-0 win for the Indians. Playing the second match on the same day against Botafogo of Brazil, the Indians rested several key players but went down fighting 2-3.
"The last league encounter against Botafogo was a key one. We ran our rivals close despite fielding a second string team. We scored two late goals in the second-half after trailing 0-3 at one stage. The result boosted our confidence for the matches ahead," Sajeevan said.
After a hard-fought semifinal win against Hartfordshire Football Club of England, the Indians took the field in the final against Botafogo with a lot of confidence.
"Our plan was to have more of ball possession and disturb their gameplan. Everything went accordingly as we scored an early goal and the boys played well to maintain the pressure," he said. "I was surprised to see the whole stadium rooting for us. We had indeed become the crowd favourites. The people enjoyed our football," the coach said.
Sajeevan, a Kerala Sports Council coach based in Ernakulam, coached the Kerala team that won the South Zone sub-junior football tournament in Kochi last year. He attended the coaches clinic conducted by Stephen Constantine in Goa during the National sub-junior tournament. Constantine was impressed by the former Kerala University player's forthright views on the game and picked him as his assistant for the twin trips to Ireland and Wales.
"He had full faith in me and appreciated my views. I was given full charge when he left for England midway through the camp," he said.
Sajeevan, a physical education diploma holder from Cuba and a Thiruvananthapuram resident, will be in charge of the National under-19 camp. He hopes to rework the magic with that team as well.